Stretch ceiling fabric installations have become popular architectural features in various architectural and retail indoor applications. One popular implementation has been to use stretch PVC and stretch it across the front of a lighting fixture, but that approach and related implementations present a number of challenges and issues, including lighting inefficiencies and difficulties in installing and maintaining the integrity of systems, particularly when maintaining the systems. Further, there is typically a need to hire special skilled labor to install such systems, particularly the fabric or stretchable faces associated with such an installation.
Further, even when properly installed, existing systems often have issues related to dust and bug intrusion. Such issues are exacerbated by poorly installed fabric or stretchable faces. Further issues, including electrical failures, may appear when electrical components are exposed to dust and bugs, as well as when the light fixture itself and a lighting compartment within the fixture are exposed to such elements. Electrical components can themselves fail in such embodiments, while dust and bugs may ultimately rest on the fabric or stretchable face of the fixture itself, and thereby may be visible during use of the lightbox.
Further, such systems must be engineered to specific sizes, and larger sizes are not feasible, and existing systems have wide returns bounding the light box, thereby resulting in a large visible border. Such a visible border interrupts the visual aesthetic of larger installations made from combining multiple smaller installations.
Accordingly, there is a need for a lighting fixture or lighting fixture system that can provide a large and uniform lighting surface that is free of hot spots, easy to install and maintain, and does not become easily corrupted with dust and bugs.
There is a further need for such a light box system intended to provide the look of a luminous finished surface and that allows for easy installation and easy maintenance, including installation of power supplies and electronics, and that provides easy access to electronics from a front face of the light fixture. There is a further need for a system that provides modular construction and allows for various configurations providing fixtures in different sizes.